Ice Age Four
by bsjashowjumper
Summary: Uh quite hard to explain, a human girl has to journey to the other end of the valley, along the way she meets the gang, will they dicide to help her or will she fail the journey. Sorry I am useless at summarys! This is my first fanfic, so please be nice.
1. Chapter 1 The human camp

_Disclaimer, I do not own any of the Ice Age characters, only my own!_

As the sun rose, rays reflected over the land. It was early in the morning, the white snow that covered the ground, glittered in the light.

Rays of sun shone over a small human camp, a dozen or so tee-pee like tents were groped together.

As sunlight filtered in to one of the tents, it woke its resident, she was a girl of about fifteen, she had light brown, almost gold hair and green eyes. She had been found when she was just two weeks old by the chief, Ulger.

She had, had a name sewn into her basket Cellie.

When Cellie was four she had found a wolf cub caught in some brambles, Cellie had set it free, and she called out, "Bye!"

Then the oddest thing happened, the wolf replied as if another human, "Bye and thanks!"

Cellie soon realised that she could talk to animals just as well as humans.

But now she could hear Ulger calling to her to come outside.

Cellie up threw off her blanket and ran outside; she saw Ulger and a few other men standing by one of their domesticated wolves. As Cellie drew closer she could see that

the wolf was cut on the back leg,

"He won't let us put medicine on it" explained Ulger.

Cellie knelt down by the wolf, "its okay wolfbane"; she said to the young wolf, "they have to put on medicine to heal the wound".

Wolfbane shuddered, "but all the other's say it really hurts", he replied.

Cellie nodded, "it only hurts for a moment", she told him, "then it stops".

Cellie gently dabbed some Wolfbane's injured leg, then she stood up, "see? All better now!"

The wolf fidgeted, and then he bounded off to the others.

Suddenly Cellie spied Ulger talking sadly to a young man out of the corner of her eye, she turned to face him.

"What is it?" she asked, noticing his grave face.

Ulger looked sadly at her, "Merdia is very ill", he explained sadly.

Callie gasped, Merdia was the oldest member of the tribe, "what's wrong with her?" asked Cellie.

"She has a high fever", said Ulger, he sighed deeply, "the only cure is the_ coultis_ flower, and they only grow at the other end of the valley though".

Cellie set her jaw firmly, "I'll go and get some!" she announced, "I can make It the fastest!"

Ulger shook his head, "no, it is far too dangerous for you, you must stay, one of the men will go".

"Father!" cried Cellie, "I'm fifteen years old! I _can_ do it!"

Hearing Mardia groan from inside one of the big tents, Ulger gave in, "alright", he agreed, "go, but be careful!"

Cellie was already sprinting off; a small dagger was stuck through her belt, "Bye Father!" she called over her shoulder.

In the dense forest nearby, a tawny sabre toothed tiger was leading a baby mammoth down a path.

Peaches waved her trunk; the little mammoth was giggling and batting the green leaves on the trees.

"Uncle Diego!" cried Peaches, "will you play a game with me? Pretty please!"

Diego smiled to himself, the tiger turned around, "OK", he replied, "what game?"

Peaches giggled, "let's have a race!" she took off.

Diego hung back and let her win, "wow!" he exclaimed, when Peaches had stopped, "you're too quick for me today!"

Peaches cheered, she shook two brown leaves out of her thick coat.

Diego glanced at the dark storm clouds banking up in the grey sky, "looks like we'd better get going", he said to Peaches, "looks like a big storm coming!"

As if to answer his words a flash of lightning flashed across the sky, Peaches shrieked.

Thunder boomed in the distance, a few drops of rain splashed on Diego's head.

"It's alright Peaches", Diego said calmly, "it's only in the sky, not down here!"

Peaches didn't look sure; Diego jumped up onto a large boulder and looked around, a large cave was cut into a wall of yellowish rock not to far away.

"Come on Peaches!" called Diego, "we'll wait it out in that cave!"

Peaches gambolled after him, Diego quickly checked out the cave, then he hurried Peaches inside.

"Great!" Diego thought to himself, "I'm stuck in a big storm with a baby mammoth who's terrified of storms!"

Peaches was fearfully listening to the howling wind, Diego sat down next to her.

"We're safe in here" he assured her, "the storm can't get i…"

CRASH! A bolt of lightning exploded against the entrance wall!

Peaches screamed at the top of her lungs, Diego jumped back and tripped over her, he hit the floor hard.

"Ouch!" he groaned, suddenly a voice shouted from overtop of him, "don't move!"

Diego stared up at a human girl, she had short light brown hair, and she also had a sharp dagger pressed against his throat.

_Bsjashowjumper. Well that's my first chapter, how'd I do? I'll update soon. R&R please!_


	2. Chapter 2 New friends

_Chapter Two._

Diego gulped as the girl pressed the dagger further against his throat.

Peaches let out a sob; she cowered in the corner of the cave, her tail tucked between her legs.

"Move one inch, and I'll slit your throat!" growled the human girl.

Diego gazed up at her, not quite sure what to do, "I won't hurt you", he said hoarsely, "just let the kid go!"

Cellie narrowed her green eyes, "I wasn't planning on doing anything to the mammoth", she replied guardedly, "but why should I trust_ you_?"

Diego was taken aback, "you can talk to us?" he exclaimed, "how?"

Cellie shifted, "It's a gift, I suppose", she relaxed slightly, but didn't move the dagger.

"Really, I won't hurt you", Diego winced under his breath and moved slightly off the sharp stone which was digging into his back.

At once, Cellie tightened her grip on the knife, drawing a pin-prick of blood from Diego's neck.

"Hey!" cried Diego, "I was only getting off this stone! It's digging into my spine!"

Cellie drew the dagger back a little, "sorry".

Diego sat up, Cellie kept the dagger pointed at him warily.

"Uncle Diego OK?" asked Peaches in a wobbly voice, she crept slowly towards them.

Diego flashed her a quick smile, "Yeah, I'm fine!" he assured her.

Cellie was still unsure, but she lowered her dagger, sliding it back into her belt.

Diego climbed to his paws, he shook the dust off his coat, "what's your name?" he asked, slightly coldly.

"Cellie", replied Cellie, eyeing his sharp teeth and claws, "you?"

"Diego", Diego said, he motioned to Peaches, "and this is Peaches", he paused, "what are you doing round here? There aren't any human camps for at least five miles upstream".

"I'm going to the other end of the valley", explained Cellie, "I…..I need some plants that only grow there, we can use them for medicine".

Diego felt a little bit of sympathy for her, Cellie was soaked through and the end of the valley was a long way away.

Peaches sniffed, dry tear marks were smeared down her cheeks.

Suddenly a low growl cut through the silence, Cellie and Peaches both looked at Diego.

"What? It wasn't me!" he said, looking back at them.

Suddenly a dark shadow fell over Cellie; she gulped and slowly turned around.

A huge bear towered over her; it had been sleeping in its nice quiet cave, when these noisy animals had disturbed it.

Peaches shrieked loudly, Diego shoved her out of the cave, "go Peaches!" he yelled, "run!"

Cellie took a step backwards and stumbled over a projecting rock; she fell to the ground and scrambled backwards.

The angry bear roared and raised a huge paw; Cellie screamed and covered her head with her arm. Diego spun round, without thinking he leapt at the bear, the bear bellowed and smashed its massive paw into his head, sending him crashing into the cave wall.

Diego fell to the ground, the sabre tooth didn't move.

Cellie sized her chance; she whipped her dagger out and sliced it down the bear's paw. The bear shook its bleeding paw in surprise, then it moaned and retreated back into the cave.

"Uncle Diego!" screeched Peaches, she raced to his side and shook him wildly, Diego didn't wake up. Peaches began to wail loudly, she wrapped her trunk around his neck and hugged him tightly.

Cellie scrambled to her feet and ran over to Peaches; tears were streaming down the baby mammoth's face.

"It's alright", Cellie told her, "he's just knocked out!"

Diego groaned softly and rolled over, he blinked groggily, "Aw Zeke, tell Soto I'll be up in a minute!" he muttered, putting a paw over his eyes.

Cellie untied her drinking flask from her belt; she poured some water into her hand and splashed it over his face.

Diego jerked awake, Peaches threw herself on him and hugged him, Cellie blinked.

"Uh, thanks for saving me", she said quietly, scuffing the toe of her boot on the dusty ground.

"It's fine", Diego replied with a frown, he rubbed his sore head.

Cellie turned to leave, "I guess I'll see you then", she said, she took a step out of the cave…and collapsed.

Cellie got back up, her ankle hurt like crazy; she limped a couple of paces, then stopped to lean on the wall.

Diego bit his lip; he couldn't leave Cellie out here in this state.

"Hey!" Diego called, he bounded up to her, "listen, you're hurt, our camp isn't far away, you can stay the night with us if you want".

Cellie looked surprised, she turned to face him, "thanks, but I'm not sure I can walk, I'll just stay here f…."

Diego motioned to his back, "clime on".

"Are you _sure_?" asked Cellie, she eyed his soft back, it _did_ look better than walking on her sore ankle.

Diego raised his eyebrow, "I wouldn't say if I wasn't sure!" he growled softly.

Cellie slid onto his back; it felt good to take the weight off her ankle.

Peaches giggled and galloped ahead, Diego followed.

Tired, Cellie lent forwards and closed her eyes, the sun was slowly beginning to set as the tree of them headed down into the valley.

_Bsjashowjumper, Hi, thanks for the reviews, reading the first chapter over again, it did seem a little rushed actually._

_I hope this chapter was a little better, I am really busy at the moment so I don't have to much time on the internet when I get home, oh well I can't complain too much, can I!._

_R&R, thanks! Will update next chapter soon._


	3. Chapter 3 The river

_Chapter three._

"_Are you going to consider waking up today?"_

"Huh!" Cellie jolted awake, it was dark, an owl hooted above them.

Diego fixed his eyes on her, "I said, are you getting off me this week?" he asked sarcasticly.

"Oh! Sorry", Cellie slid off his back, (taking care not to land on her bad ankle).

Cellie looked up, and gasped in shock! Two mammoths, two possums and a rather dirty sloth were all staring at her.

The biggest mammoth trumpeted anxiously as he noticed Cellie's dagger.

Peaches, was weaving in and out of the smaller mammoths' legs.

Cellie guessed the mammoths were Peaches' parents.

The sloth stepped warily forwards, "uh Diego", he asked in a lispy voice,"uh…..not to panic anyone or anything, but there's_ a_ _human _there!" he glanced at Cellie.

Diego rolled his eyes, "well observed Sid!" he growled, "of course there is! I brought her!"

"Oh….Why?"

Before the sabre tooth could reply, the two possums bounded up, the first one spoke, "Hi, I'm Crash! And this is Eddie!" he motioned to his brother.

"Hi", Cellie slowly raised her hand.

"Whoa!" the possums fell backwards in shock, "dude!" exclaimed Eddie, "she can talk!"

Cellie nodded, "uh yeah, it's a gift I was born with", she explained.

"I'm Sid!" announced the sloth proudly; he picked a large bug off his greeny fur.

Cellie noticed that Sid was_ slightly_ smelly.

The male mammoth pointed to his wife, "this is Ellie, and I'm Manfred", he said.

"Manny for short!" cut in Sid quickly.

"Oh", said Cellie, not really sure what to say, "Um…I'm Cellie".

"That's a nice name", commented Ellie kindly.

Cellie smiled, "yeah, it's OK".

"I haven't seen many humans that look like you before", said Manny, glancing at the girl's pale, almost white skin and light brown hair.

"I was found when I was a baby", replied Cellie, "so I'm not actually from the tribe I live with".

Suddenly a large cloud passed in front of the large round moon, plunging the whole camp into darkness.

Ellie yawned, she fondled Peaches tenderly. "I think it's time for you to get to bed!" she said tiredly.

Peaches lay down with her parents, on the soft leafy ground.

"I think it's about time we all got some shuteye", murmured Diego, he lay down.

Crash and Eddie scampered up an overhanging tree and hung upside-down, hanging from their tails.

Sid climbed clumsily onto a large flat rock; he stretched about twenty times, until Manny yelled at him.

Cellie looked around, not sure where to sleep, she lay down beside Diego.

Cellie shivered, she took his paw and placed it over her waist.

Diego looked a little uncomfortable with this, but he didn't move his paw back all the same and let Cellie rest her head on his back.

Ellie watched them, "do you think there's something between them?" she asked Manny.

"That's stupid, she's a human and he's a tiger!" Manny muttered sleepily.

Ellie frowned to herself, and then she went to sleep.

"Ouch!" Cellie's head smacked into the ground, she sat up and looked around.

It was first thing in the morning; Manny, Ellie, the Possums and Sid were still sleeping.

Diego was gone; Cellie spied him, sneaking out of the campsite.

"Hey wait up!" called Cellie; she ran after him, jumping over a small tree root, her ankle seemed much better this morning.

Diego spun round; he looked surprised to see her up so early.

"Where are you going?" asked Cellie, catching up with him.

"Hunting", the tiger replied simply.

"Oh".

Diego started forwards, then had a thought, he turned back to Cellie, "hey, do you want to come, if you did you could carry some fish back from the river".

"That's actually quite a good idea", said Cellie thoughtfully, "then I could cook them for my breakfast!"

"Come on then", Diego trotted off, Cellie ran after him.

"Exactly how far is the river?" asked Cellie, after a while, bearing in mind she still had to get to the end of the valley as soon as possible.

"Not far", Diego replied, he cursed under his breath as he snagged his fur on a bramble.

In the distance, Cellie heard a faint roaring sound; it grew louder as they climbed a steep hill.

Cellie gasped out loud as they climbed over-top of the hill, a wide swirling river raged in front of them.

Diego looked surprised, "It wasn't like this a few days ago!" he said, looked at the fast-flowing water.

"I guess it's to do with all the rain we had yesterday", replied Cellie.

Diego slid down the other side of the steep slope.

"There's a sheet of ice across!" he called up to Cellie.

Cellie ran down the slope, she gazed at the thin bridge of ice that hadn't been washed away yet.

The ice looked quite flimsy, Cellie wasn't sure it would hold.

"We'll have to go across", said Diego, reading her thoughts, "the fish tend to gather on the other side".

"Um….Ok, shall I go first?" asked Cellie, "as I'm the lightest".

"Yeah, don't worry", replied Diego, seeing her worried face, "the ice will hold easily!"

Cellie put a boot gingerly onto the ice, it groaned but held. Slowly Cellie inched her way across, she jumped off the other side, landing in the soft snow.

Diego followed, Cellie watched nervously, the ice creaked under him.

Suddenly Cellie noticed hair thin fractures appearing under Diego's paws.

Cellie gasped, she waved her arms franticly, "Diego, get off there!" she yelled.

"Huh?" Diego looked at her, he paused, one paw hanging in mid-air.

"Get off there!" Cellie called, "the ice won't hold!"

SMASH! With that, the ice splintered, Diego cried out and plunged into the freezing cold water.

"Diego!" screamed Cellie; she scrambled over to the edge.

Diego burst through the surface, gasping and coughing, he tried to swim, but the raging waters pulled him downriver.

Cellie raced along the shore, she leapt over a fallen log and carried on.

Diego kept disappearing under the surface; he swallowed mouthfuls of water and came up choking and spluttering.

Cellie tripped over a bramble and went sprawling on the ground; she climbed to her feet and screamed in horror. Diego was headed right for a huge waterfall!

Diego fought to keep his head above the water, but the swirling river dragged him under.

Cellie looked around desperately; suddenly she spied a large rock, sticking out of the water.

"Diego!" she yelled, "try and get onto that rock!"

Diego saw the rock, he summoned all his strength and leapt for it, he slammed into it.

Cellie gasped, Diego scrambled up onto the rock, he lay gasping for air.

"Can you jump to the shore?" Cellie called.

Diego stood up, he crouched to spring, suddenly his back leg slipped and he fell back into the water!

Cellie shrieked.

Diego dug his claws into the rock, they screeched across the top, leaving deep white scratches in it.

"Hang on!" yelled Cellie, "I'll get a stick or something!"

Diego slipped further into the river, "I…can't!" he whispered, then his claws came free and he disappeared over the waterfall.

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" screamed Cellie, she half ran; half fell down the bank to the bottom of the falls.

The foaming water was silent, Cellie felt sick.

Suddenly a lifeless tawny body floated to the surface.

Cellie waded into the water and dragged Diego out, he was limp and his back leg was bleeding.

Cellie was shocked how freezing cold the tiger was; she laid him on the snowy ground.

"Please wake up!" Cellie pleaded, fearing the worst. She stroked Diego's drenched head, his soaked fur was plastered to his body.

Suddenly Diego burst out coughing and spluttering, he spat out mouthfuls of water.

Cellie pulled her hand back.

Diego lay shivering in the snow; Cellie took off her coat and laid it over his trembling shoulders.

Diego gave her a small smile, "T…..thanks", he said in shaky voice.

Cellie sat down beside him and rubbed his paw with her hands, Diego looked like a drowned kitten.

Diego sat up, he didn't bother to shake himself, Cellie wiped water off his coat, "are you OK?" she said in a small voice.

Diego nodded, he pulled himself to his paws and stood unsteadily.

Cellie stood up, she frowned, "are you_ sure_ you're OK?" she asked, "don't you want to rest for a moment?"

Diego turned to face her, something wasn't right with him, Cellie felt it strongly.

"I'm fine!" he snapped, digging his claws into the ground.

Cellie was taken aback; she glowered at him, "fine! Be a jerk!" she snapped back, "I won't bother to save you next time!"

Diego growled at her, he flounced forwards a few steps, then he staggered and collapsed.

_Bsjashowjumper. Hi, sorry for the wait, I was ill yesterday._

_Thanks for the reviws. Will keep updated, R&R please._


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